Relationship Complications
by irony882
Summary: He asked her out. She shot him down. Now he's drowning in his sorrow. BB.
1. Chapter 1

Relationship Complications

By irony882 

Created on July 15th, 2007

Summary: He asked her out. She shot him down. Now he's drowning in his sorrow.

Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended. There is no money being made off of this.

A/N: Just something that popped into my head.

Taking a generous gulp of his beer, he stared into space. What had he done? All he did was ask her out on a date. What could it hurt, anyway?

She was scared, he knew. Of him getting what he wanted from her, then eventually leaving. No matter how much he'd tried to dissuade her from coming to that conclusion, she'd stood by her logical inference. Her other excuse was that it would ruin the relationship they already had. And his rebuttal was that he'd always cared _that _way for her, that they were already in a relationship where he had feelings for her, regardless of whether they were going together or not.

She'd simply shaken her head, as if to shake his confession out of her head, out of her memories. Then, she'd picked up a piece of vertebrae from their latest victim and began examining it. This was his cue to leave, he knew. But he remained standing, watching her. She was growing very uncomfortable under his gaze, but she continued ignoring him. And eventually, with a sigh, he'd left the forensics unit of the Jeffersonian, trudging out to the parking lot to his car.

Once she was sure he'd left, her feet led her to her office, where she collapsed on the couch. He could be a partner to her, of course. A friend? Absolutely. A potential significant other? Not a smart idea. And, if there was more than one kind of family, as he said, then it was logical that he, as part of her other family, would leave her too. Just as her original family had. They were to be partners, nothing more. That was all there was to it. Her feelings had no significance to this situation. That's what she kept telling herself.

What she didn't know was that she had completely shattered Special Agent Seeley Booth's heart. She thought she had simply torn it halfway down the middle.

A/N: Please tell me what you think. Constructive criticism is very much appreciated. By the way, should I continue this, or leave it as a oneshot? I'm not the best at multi-chaptered stories, but I'll try, for you guys. )


	2. Chapter 2

Relationship Complications 

Chapter Two

By irony882

Summary: He asked her out. She shot him down. Now he's drowning in his sorrow.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bones. There is no copyright infringement intended. Nor am I making any money off of this.

A/N: And here's the continuation to the last chapter. Hope you like it!

- - - - -

_Once she was sure he'd left, her feet led her to her office, where she collapsed on the couch. He could be a partner to her, of course. A friend? Absolutely. A potential significant other? Not a smart idea. And, if there was more than one kind of family, as he said, then it was logical that he, as part of her other family, would leave her too. Just as her original family had. They were to be partners, nothing more. That was all there was to it. Her feelings had no significance to this situation. That's what she kept telling herself._

_What she didn't know was that she had completely shattered Special Agent Seeley Booth's heart. She thought she had simply torn it halfway down the middle._

**- - - - -**

Angela Montenegro pulled her car up in the space next to Brennan's. The parking lot of the Jeffersonian Institute had very little cars at this time of day; most likely supervisors wanting to look over their employees' work and, of course, Brennan coming in early to examine skeletons of who-knew-what-era.

Angela found Brennan looking over the remains of a middle-aged man, the victim of their most recent case. Temperance's brows were furrowed in contemplation, her undivided attention focused on the set of bones.

Well, it _seemed _that her undivided attention was focused, until she spoke.

"Why are you here this early, Ange? It must be really important." Temperance glanced up from the bones, a concerned look painted on her face. She knew for a fact that Angela was far from being a morning bird. Something serious must have happened for her best friend to be standing behind heart the Jeffersonian at six o'clock in the morning.

"What is going on between you and Booth?" Angela demanded.

"So that's what's bothering you," Brennan muttered.

"Of course it's bothering me. It's bothering everyone. Even Zach, who was astonished when Booth started consulting with him about the victim, more than he did with you."

Angela's face went from concerned to exasperated as she continued her speech. "Everything's changed about your relationship. It's like there's this invisible, impenetrable force field separating you two. You never look at him for more than a second and you've turned into your old workaholic, perpetually-closed-off-from-your-emotions persona. And frankly, I don't like it. Why are you shutting him out? I've been a witness to what the man's done for you. Can't you just cut him some slack and go out with the guy?"

Brennan felt her initial plan to keep Booth's proposal from Angela's ears crumbling. Sighing, she snapped off her gloves, then turned to face her friend.

"First, I have no 'persona'. There's just me, and that's it. Besides, you have to keep a level head in my occupation. You can't just goof off and expect work to be done."

Angela resisted the urge to grind her teeth together. Brennan could be so infuriating sometimes!

"That's a lie, Sweetie, and you know it. And you never answered my last two questions." Giving her friend a knowing glance, she knew Brennan had caved.

"I'm not shutting him out, and I've already dealt with it." Temperance answered the questions in order, hoping Angela wouldn't have any further examinations and realize that she didn't really want to talk about her relationship with Booth.

No such luck.

"Dealt with it? Care to elaborate?" an eyebrow was raised in question.

"He asked me out. And I turned him down." As the words left her mouth, Brennan tried her hardest to keep her face impassive.

"Oh, Sweetie. When did this happen?"

"Roughly three months ago."

"Three months?!" Brennan was not prepared for the shriek that came, though. "There must have been a good reason not to tell me," Angela crossed her arms over her chest, obviously agitated.

"Because you would have - " Brennan hesitated for a long moment. "You would have compromised my objectivity."

"Don't treat this like one of your skeletons in line for examination. With the techno-talk and all," Angela said sharply. "And what are you talking about? What objectivity?" Brennan was silent, staring at the wall. After a few moments of thinking, Angela figured out the answer to her own question.

"Wait, you didn't want me to change your mind? So does that mean that you don't care for our favorite FBI friend in _that _way?" Brennan couldn't help but smirk; Angela's face was so incredulous.

"Ange, you know me; I'm bad at relationships. Even platonic ones. I always tend to say or do things that make people uncomfortable. I'm not a social person. And adding that to the fact that I work together with Booth; it's just too complicated. It'd be better if we stayed friends."

"Things are already complicated. You've just made things all the more complicated by avoiding him. And to your handicap dealing with homosapiens, all the more reason to pursue a relationship! It'll improve your social skills, and you know that you can't chase Booth away; he's used to your babble about bones and anthropology. And your personalities compliment each other perfe-"

"Angela, I don't want to hear your arguments. We'll get over this. Maybe not anytime soon, but the awkwardness will pass." Brennan wiggled her fingers back into her gloves and proceeded to examine the skull further, leaving Angela standing in front of her, with her face set into a stony mask.

- - - - -

"Remind me again why I'm here?" she was looking anywhere but her partner's face; out of her window, through the sunroof, straight ahead at the road stretched before them, anywhere.

Booth's head pounded louder. He seriously needed to start carrying around some aspirin in the car. "Look, Bones. It's the usual: you need to get dragged out of the lab to eat, and no one else has the guts to do it but me. 'sides, it's only Wong Foo's. An innocent lunch." Booth finished with one of his trademark charm smiles. Brennan noticed it didn't quite reach his eyes in the split second she glanced at him.

- - - - -

"Alright, you two. Here's your drinks."

After thanking Sid, the two lapsed into a silence, heavy with tension.

Brennan decided to take the plunge; she'd be much safer is she didn't, but she wanted answers. "Why did you bring me here?"

"Well, as we all know, Wong Foo's is a great place to kick back, relax, and enjoy the food. There's also the bonus that the employee already knows what the customer's in the mood for…"

"Booth." Her voice held a warning tone.

"Well, it's like I said. You would starve to death is someone didn't-"

"Booth!" after taking a big gulp of his water to sooth his pulsating headache, Booth looked Temperance in the eye levelly. He rejoiced internally when she didn't turn away.

"Bones, I want to talk about us." After hearing the words "talk" and "us", Temperance immediately made a decision to turn away. She would have had it not been for the fact that a finger was resting gently on her chin, pulling her face back to the eyes of her partner.

A sigh. "You see, this is what I was afraid of. The awkwardness."

"We're not awkward around each other," Brennan was surprised at the quiet mumble coming from her mouth. She wanted her voice louder, more confident.

"Oh, yeah? Prove it, Bones. Stare me in the eye for two minutes straight." Without looking away from Temperance, Seeley removed his finger from her chin and placed it instead on his watch, setting the timer to beep in two minutes.

And so the staring contest began.

Seeley let his eyes fill with all the emotions he was feeling. She was just so beautiful, in her own way. Not the makeup-kind-of-way but the independent-I-don't-care-what-you-think-of-me kind of way. Although, Booth mused, he was sure she cared what _he_ thought of her. Tilting his head slightly, he continued studying Temperance.

Meanwhile, a fear had developed in Temperance's mind that she would drown in the chocolate depths of her partner's eyes.

With the help of Angela and Booth, she was getting better at reading people. And in Booth's eyes, she found…the hope that they could become more comfortable around each other…frustration at not being able to maintain eye contact with her for the past few months…and…was that…love? No, it was affection. Brennan chided herself for making such a mistake. It was simply affection for a friend. That was all.

His brown orbs were sucking her in, like a dark hole gathering its snack for the day. It soon grew to be too much to bear. Swiftly, Brennan broke away and turned her head to the side.

Seeley smirked and hit "stop" on his stopwatch. It read 1:22. They'd stared each other down for thirty-eight seconds.

It was quite a while before Seeley broke the silence. "See? Told ya. Soon it'll get to the point that we can't even be in the same room together."

"Not true," Brennan mumbled once again.

Another awkward silence ensued.

- - - - -

"So what have you two worked out?" Angela stuffed another mouthful of noodles into her mouth.

After coming back from lunch with Booth, Brennan was not surprised to see the forensic artist lounging on her couch in her office, Chinese takeout boxes sprawled in front of her. Sighing, Brennan proceeded to tell Angela.

- - - - -

_"Bones, you remember how I told you that I'd always felt _that _way about you?"_

_She was still recovering from the shock that she couldn't look into his eyes for more than a minute, so she just nodded to the ground._

_"Well, I still feel that way, and I'll always feel that way. So…will you go out with me?"_

_Her head snapped up. That was certainly random, wasn't it? "Booth, my answer is the same as it was before. I don't think it'll change. You know that; so why ask me again?"_

_His answer was sincere. "Because I keep thinking how overjoyed I'll be when you do say yes." Seeing his partner open her mouth to retort, he cut her off, "and you will say yes, believe me." The dreaded charm smile was shot toward Brennan and she couldn't keep the corners of her mouth lifting to form a smile._

- - - - -

"Really? So, did you say yes?" a very excited Angela couldn't help exclaiming.

"I agreed that we'd take it slow," Brennan replied.

"I'm so happy for you, Sweetie! I knew the day would come!" Much to Brennan's surprise, Angela was not squealing but had rather folded her arms around Brennan in a hug.

"We're not dating yet, Ange," Temperance reminded her friend.

"Oh, I know, Sweetie, but you've agreed to let him into your heart. That's worth something, isn't it?"

Tempe couldn't help the chuckle that escaped her lips.

- - - - -

A/N: So what do you think? Not sure how IC the characters are at this point, and I've tried my best with Angela.

I have no idea where I'm going with this story, so ideas are very much appreciated. And while you're telling me what your minds have come up with, you can review!

-irony882


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